Tragedy and a simple truth…

With another Christmas around the corner and the year coming to a close, I’ve been working for over a week now on a post to sum up the lessons and bits of wisdom gathered on this journey. Many lessons…some wisdom…all in all, it seemed like a lot to say and share.

And then I woke up this morning to the news of the elementary school shooting in Connecticut. According to CNN, so far 26 people have died, 20 of them children.

I just deleted everything I wrote.

What happened this year, what happens any year, is ultimately irrelevant. There is only one simple truth that emerges again and again…the same lesson: hold on to those you love with all you’ve got…tell them you love them, show them you love them, do it always and do it now.

I can’t imagine the overwhelming grief …the agony those families are going through as I am writing this. And not just the people in Connecticut…but others all over the world who in this very moment are experiencing the loss of a child, a partner….

And then I think what any of them would do or give….regardless of resources, personal issues, petty arguments, anger, confusion or pride…for a chance to change the outcome…for a reunion instead of a funeral this Christmas.

What would I give or do? What would you?

I suspect the answer is anything…everything. And the cliché is tragically relevant…we need to do and give that everything and anything this moment, without hesitation…because there is no knowing what tomorrow brings. It’s a horrible thought…but we live in this world as it is…and it’s a world where as Rumi said, “the wound is the place where the light enters”.

May our wounds be of awakening and not of loss…and may a lot of light enter.

As for those who mourn today and in the days to come, may they be granted grace, comfort, and healing…although to be honest, right now these words seem so uselss and empty, as I can’t imagine what could possibly lessen their suffering.

Wonderful words of comfort Joanna. It is a day of mourning around the world for those beautiful, little souls that never had the chance to grow up and also for the adults that died for being in the school at the wrong time. The families will suffer for a long time I would imagine and all we can do is offer words of comfort and prayers!